Product description

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called "Le Cirque des REves," and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway--a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love--a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per-formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

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Customer reviews

Bringing two illusionists with similar powers to win a game challenged by one's father and the other from a foster parent, Celia and Marco don't realize they are being pitied against each other. In everything they do with the Night Circus is another nice on a chessboard they have no idea they're playing. When they realize that one has to die to become the winner, they take matters in their own hands.

Beautifully written, The Night Circus takes place in a Victorian London setting where men are gentleman and women are ladies. All come to the mysterious circus at night and fans are named rÃ?Âªveurs (dreamers) who follow their favourite circus form country to country. There are mini pages where it's told from a second point of view which adds to another layer of mystery as to how the circus really is. I thought it was a nice touch, but I ended up skipping those pages long after.

The pacing is so slow. So very slow in the beginning that I had trouble even sticking to the book. Everything has been set up perfectly but the story doesn't start to pick up until you get halfway in the book. At which point I was finally invested in the story. I also felt the romance was completely rushed and instant which isn't necessarily the greatest thing in a romance. It did make it feel like a star-crossed lovers romance combined with magical realism that not even the suspecting mortals can pinpoint.

Pick this one up if you're looking for a unique story with an intricate beautiful world full of magic, intrigue and romance!

1. Beautiful presentation - the dustcover is colorful, with lovely graphic elements - the actual binding is bookshelf-worthy as well, with shiny silver text on black - the inside pages have lovely starry insets between pages as well as graphic pages with "quotes" from various people on Le Cirque des Reves - just a gorgeous-LOOKING book

2. Imaginative and fanciful - I was most impressed by the originality of the story - it's difficult to find a story that feels wholly original, but this one fits the bill.

3. Writing - the writing is totally spot-on - you can feel the magic coming out of the pages with very descriptive and evocative prose

The characters - there's the requisite bad guy in the form of Celia's father, who gets his own comeuppance when a trick he tries goes too far. Although I enjoyed the STORY, I really never felt a connection with many of the characters - there's a romance that seems to fall flat on the pages, and the motivations of many characters are unclear. I felt like an impartial observer of these lives and I actually felt more for some of the secondary characters than any of the main ones.

Even so, the "feel" of this novel makes it worth reading - it actually may even make a good re-read, as some of the nuances missed on the first read may become clearer on the second. The descriptive settings, the imaginative circus that only opens at night (and no one knows ahead of time where it will be), with its magical displays and unparalleled performers, as well as the concept behind its formation - only a wonderfully creative mind could have come up with this. Some may not care for the somewhat circular fashion that the story is told in, but I felt that it was perfect for this type of fantasy read.

SENSITIVE READER: There are a couple of "iffy" spots - one or two curse words and an implied sexual scene, but, really, I don't think that it will offend almost anyone.

Review quote

Praise for THE NIGHT CIRCUS:
"Self-assured, entertaining debut that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic... Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book--and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings."
--"Kirkus" Reviews (in a starred review)
"'Dark as soot and bright as sparks, ' "The Night Circus" still holds me willingly captive in a world of almost unbearable beauty. This is a love story on a grand scale: it creates, it destroys, it ultimately transcends. Take a bow, Erin Morgenstern. This is one of the best books I have ever read."
--Brunonia Barry, author of "The Lace Reader"
"A riveting debut. "The Night Circus "pulls you into a world as dark as it is dazzling, fully-realized but still something out of a dream. You will not want to leave it."
--Tea Obreht, author of "The Tiger's Wife"
"Every once in awhile you find a novel so magical that there is no escaping its spell."The Night Circus" is o